DIY Linen Strop - No stitching required !

I have spent the last month regretting the initial strop purchase I made.... A decent quality 3" leather... but no linen / cotton component. When I bought it I hadn't spent endless hours reading B&B forums & hence didn't know I needed one.

Rather than buying a complete new strop I decided to make one myself. (Yeah - I know I'll still buy another strop later anyway as one can never be satisfied with just 1 strop / brush / razor / soap etc etc)

Here's the finished product - pretty happy with it to be honest




Really simple to make:

Components required:

• Linen.... I bought 1 metre of 320gm/m2 plain white linen from Amazon for £3.99 + p&p £1.99 - What arrived was about 100cm x 185cm. Enough for at least 8 strops !!
• Some wood strips about 0.5" x 0.5" x 3".... I had an old wooden floorboard that I simply took a 0.5' strip off & cut to 3' lengths
• 8 small woodscrews
• Old lace or cord.

Method:

• Cut a piece of linen 12" x 24" - Ironed flat
• Fold outer 3" in towards the centre line. Do same with other outer edge. This puts both ragged edges at the centre of a 6" wide strip
• Fold the 6" strip in half along the centre line, with the ragged edges inwards.
• Iron flat - you should have a 3" x 24" folded strip, with the ragged edges totally enclosed.
• Prepare your wood strips - pre drill & countersink holes for your screws and hanging cord
• Secure each end with two 3" strips of wood - sandwiching the linen tightly between the wood to permanently fix your linen folds in place.
• Hang on hook
• Stand back & feel smug

Seems to work well. Not bad for £6 - especially as I have enough materials for another 5 or more strops left over.

If anyone in the UK wants a 12"x24" piece of linen let me know & I will post through to you.... Whilst I may make another 1 or two strops to add paste to, I certainly won't use all of the linen.

Oops - I seem to have attached another photo below - don't know how I did that or how to get rid of it.... But it is a nice picture of my coti & a couple of my razors

Good stuff. Good job!

Very cool idea. My strop is only leather also. I'm just starting with a SR and still learning to strop properly.
What is the benefit of a linen component to the strop? Is it to carry additives (CrOx, FeOx)?

Nice job. I did a very similar thing with minimal stitching here;http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/392191-Homemade-linen-strop-pictures

Thanks. That's inspiring. Yours too bluesman.

Great idea..
Thanks for the inspiration.

Mr_Smartepants said:

Very cool idea. My strop is only leather also. I'm just starting with a SR and still learning to strop properly.
What is the benefit of a linen component to the strop? Is it to carry additives (CrOx, FeOx)?

Click to expand...

If I am completely honest.... Don't really know - I mostly made it because everyone else has one & seems to think they are "required"
From what I can gather it probably does the following

• Cleans the edge after shaving or honing.... i.e. gets rid of any debris
• Has a mild abrasive effect.... but much less than any paste etc. Supposedly this is why linen is better than cotton (maybe?)
• Friction warms up the edge ready for honing on leather - which makes edge alignment easier (maybe?)
• Adds to the overall drama of the shave routine.... which is never a bad thing

You can also use a linen / cotton strop to add pastes to, but I think this is more commonly done with paddle strops to avoid rounding the edges .